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Montag, 26. Dezember 2016

In this frosty winter weather, nice wollen socks are a comfort for cold feet. That's why I am currently knitting socks, socks and even more socks. I also wanted to try a few different techniques for knitting socks. The helix knitting allows for jogless stripes and is great to use up leftovers of sock yarn that are not enough for a complete pair of socks.

This is definitely NOT a complete pattern, but a sketch or idea for a pair of socks that explains some points to pay attention to when knitting socks with this helix knitting technique.

"Instructions" or what to bear in mind
Knit a toe in one color and distribute your stitches on four needles. After finishing the toe, skip one needle and start the 2nd color in the middle of the sole side of your sock (see photo on the right hand side).

Knit two needles with the 2nd color, then go back to the 1st color yarn and knit two needles with your 1st color. Switch to the needle where the yarn of the 2nd color is currently and knit two needles from there. Go on alternating between both colors.

For this kind of helix knitting you need a heel that does not rely on rows on the top of the foot. The only heel with this property that I know of is the afterthought heel. Make sure to insert the scrap yarn for the afterthought heel after knitting the two heel needles in one color, i.e. do not insert the scrap yarn for the afterthought heel over a color change.

Then go on with your helix pattern - make sure to end the 2nd color also in the middle of the back of the sock. I used the first color to knit the rib and also to knit the afterthought heel.

Donnerstag, 15. Dezember 2016

When I recently saw a picture of a felted "Weihnachtswichtel" (Christmas gnome or christmas elf) on social media, I wanted to do something similar in knitting. So I took the general shape of the Little Christmas Tree pattern and added some stranded colorwork.

I like the result - even though it took me a while to get the face right - so the first two got a little facelift after the knitting was finished, i.e. I added some embroidery :) The version described in this pattern is the last one I knitted (see picture below). for this one, no embroidery was added.

Materials

I used old yarn in four colors - mainly red, some white, some beige (for the face) and black for the eyes - I believe it was sports weight yarn; one gnome weighs about 12 grams

knitting needle that's a bit smaller than the size the yarn calls for; I used 2.5mm needles

General Construction
Each gnome consist of a pizza-slice shaped piece that is sewn together at the straight sides in the end. The shape is achieved by knitting three parts of garter stitch short rows. Part 1 and 3 are only knitted in one color - part two also has the colorwork for the beard an face.
Before the three needle BO, the piece looks as shown in the picture below.

Instructions

With scrap yarn pCO 24 stitches - this does not include the first row with your working yarn.

Put the stitches from the provisional CO on a knitting needle. Hold the piece rights sides together and do a three needle bind off.
Afterwards, turn the piece right sides out. Use a pen or something similar to get into the top.
If the yarn you used was really soft, you might want to stabilize the tree. You can do this by cutting out a piece of paper or soft cardboard in the shape of a 90° pizza slice (similar to the tree before the three needle BO) and insert it into the tree.
The yarn I used was stiff enough, so there wasn't any need for stabilization.

Samstag, 10. Dezember 2016

Christmas is drawing nearer and nearer. Unfortunately, this year it's quite difficult for me to get into a christmas mood. That's why I tried to create my own knitted decorations christmas decorations.

Here's the result: a small and fun pattern for a little christmas tree in two sizes. One tree only takes up about 10 to 15 grams of yarn, so it's great for using up some leftover green yarn.

Small "Bobble": I used the following method to knit a small bobble: right in the middle of the row (where the pattern asks you to knit a bobble) CO4 with knitted CO (or cable CO), then directly bind off 4 stitches and go on knitting the row. In the instructions the word "bobble" will be used (here's how to do a knitted CO: https://youtu.be/bTgT7kE1c_k)

Now your piece should look similar to the one in the picture on the right.

Finishing
Put the stitches from the provisional CO on a knitting needle. Hold the piece rights sides together and do a three needle bind off.
Afterwards, turn the piece right sides out. Use a pen or something similar to get into the top.
If the yarn you used was really soft, you might want to stabilize the tree. You can do this by cutting out a piece of paper or soft cardboard in the shape of a 90° pizza slice (similar to the tree before the three needle BO) and insert it into the tree.
The yarn I used was stiff enough that there wasn't any need for stabilization.

Finishing
Put the stitches from the provisional CO on a knitting needle. Hold the piece rights sides together and do a three needle bind off.
Afterwards, turn the piece right sides out. Use a pen or something similar to get into the top.
If the yarn you used was really soft, you might want to stabilize the tree. You can do this by cutting out a piece of paper or soft cardboard in the shape of a 90° pizza slice (similar to the tree before the three needle BO) and insert it into the tree.

Montag, 5. Dezember 2016

Usually I'm not very good at knitting intarsia. I have two patterns on my blog that use this technique (Xmas Star Mitts and Cordillera Scarf), but it's not exactly my speciality.

That's why I was really surprised, when a photo of this attempt of an intarsia cowl got a huge amounts of likes on my Instagram account. To be honest, before it got this attention, I wasn't even sure whether I would go on knitting it or whether I would frog it ... But now, I guess I will finish it (and later publish the pattern). At least it's good practice for colorwork knitting and it's fun to knit :)

Donnerstag, 17. November 2016

Modular knitting is always great to show off yarn with a longer color gradient. This cowl makes no exception. It is knitted flat in trapezoids at right angles to each other. When it's long enough it is worked into a cowl by grafting.

This cowl is named after the lovely town of Burgdorf in Switzerland where I spend a wonderful time at a friend's place. It's where knitted this cowl.

3.25mm needles - I recommend long circulars, you can use straight needles as well, but you might need 3 needles at times (e.g. when you pick up stitches to start a new trapezoid or when you graft the ends together at the end); I used rather short circulars

I knitted a total of 24 trapezoids (using up my 100 grams of lace weight yarn). After blocking my cowl measured 22 cm in width and 120 cm in circumference.

Construction

The picture below shows the general construction. The cowl is made from modules in trapezoid shape that build on each other. In the end the upper edge of the last trapezoid is grafted to the lower edge of the 2nd one - and the lower edge of the very first trapezoid is grafted to the upper edge of the one but last trapezoid plus a few picked up stitches.

The picture to the right shows how the first trapezoid sections fit together. Trapezoid 2 is knitted at right angles to trapezoid 1 (picking up stitches from trapezoid 1). Trapezoid 3 is knitted on top of trapezoid 1, using the leftover stitches from trapezoid 1 and stitches picked up from the side of trapezoid 2. Trapezoid 4 in turn is knitted at right angles to trapezoid 3, using stitches picked up from the side trapezoid 3 and the leftover stitches from trapezoid 2. And so on ...

Trapezoid 1
R1: ssk, k to m
R2: sl1, k to end
R3: ssk, k to m
Repeat rows 2 and 3 18 more times
There are now 30 stitches with working yarn on your needles - these stitches will not be knitted during the next trapezoid
Your piece should now look like in photo 1.

Trapezoid 2
R1: place marker and pick up and knit 20 stitches from the slip stitch edge of trapezoid 1, then go on and knit the 30 sts left of the provisional CO -> between your stitch marker and the end there are now 50 stitches. Your piece should look like in photo 2.
R2: ssk, k to m
R3: sl1, k to end
R4: ssk, k to m
Repeat rows 3 and 4, 18 more times -> there are now 30 "active" stitches for trapezoid 2 - these stitches will not be knitted during the next trapezoid

Trapezoid 3
R1: place marker and pick up and knit 20 stitches from the slip stitch edge of the last trapezoid, then go on and knit the 30 sts left of the last but one trapezoid -> between your stitch marker and the end there are now 50 stitches. The upper edge of your piece should look similar to photo 3.
R2: ssk, k to m
R3: sl1, k to end
R4: ssk, k to m
Repeat rows 3 and 4, 18 more times (after a few times the upper edge of your piece should look similar to photo 4) -> there are now 30 "active" stitches for this trapezoid - these stitches will not be knitted during the next trapezoid.

Trapezoid 4
R1: place marker and pick up and knit 20 stitches from the slip stitch edge of the last trapezoid, then go on and knit the 30 sts left of the last but one trapezoid -> between your stitch marker and the end there are now 50 stitches. The upper edge of your piece should look similar to photo 3.
R2: ssk, k to m
R3: sl1, k to end
R4: ssk, k to m
Repeat rows 3 and 4, 18 more times (after a few times the upper edge of your piece should look similar to photo 4) -> there are now 30 "active" stitches for this trapezoid - these stitches will not be knitted during the next trapezoid.

Repeat trapezoids 3 and 4 until your cowl has the desired length.
I knitted a total of 24 trapezoids since I prefer my cowls to be double-length, i.e. I like them to fit at least twice around my neck.

Cut yarn and leave long tail (enough to graft 30 stitches)

Put stitches from pCO on a new knitting needle (since I didn't have another 3.25mm needle – I used a slightly smaller one (3mm)). For orientation you might want to place a marker between the two first trapezoids (i.e. there will be 50 stitches for the very first trapezoid and 30 stitches for the 2nd).

Hold the last trapezoid you knitted and the 2nd trapezoid together (see photo 5) and graft together in garter stitch (30 sts) with the tail you left after knitting the last trapezoid.

From the side of the last trapezoid pick up 20 sts (please note that this is not pick up and knit). Combined with the stitches of the one but last trapezoid you now have 50 stitches on that needle.
Hold these stitches together with the provisional CO of the very first trapezoid (see photo 6) and graft in garter stitch.

Donnerstag, 3. November 2016

Usually, when I knit a cowl or a scarf, I plan to knit a matching pair of (fingerless) gloves - or when I knit a pair of gloves, I plan to knit a matching cowl. Usually, this never gets beyond the planning phase ... And even though I have lots of scarfs/cowls and lots of pairs of fingerless gloves they seldom match.

So I am quite proud that this time I actually managed to knit a matching set - and not only in terms of the yarn I used, but also as concerns the stitch technique. In March I published a pattern for a cowl with stacked stitches - called the Stack Overflow Cowl. Even though it's made from quite cheap sock yarn, I love to wear it. And since there was yarn left, I decided to design a pair of fingerless gloves with stacked stitches as a decorative element; the construction is based on my Strata Fingerless Gloves (published last year).

Grafting Stockinette Stitch / Kitchener Stitch: A technique to get an invisible (knitted) seam - this technique is shown in this YouTube Video by knittinghelp.com.

Basic Construction
The schematic below shows the construction of these mitts. The mitts are started at the thumb (1) which is knitted in the round. Then an increasing oval shape is knitted (2) - half of the stitches of the oval are put on a stitch holder to be used later. At one end of the oval a provisional CO is added, to give length to the shaft of the mitts.
The main body part (3) is knitted flat - first a few stockinette rows - followed by a stacked stitch pattern to decorate the back of your hand and then stockinette stitch again to cover the palm. The last row is attached to the provisional CO and the stitches from the stitch holder by means of a three needle BO.
Photos of the mitt in construction can be found in this blogpost (the pattern for Strata Fingerless Gloves).

Gauge / Measurements
Since the pattern uses different stitches on the back and palm side of the mitts, they are slightly lopsided. The finished mitts measure 18 cm in length on the palm side - and 21 cm on the back of the hands. They measure about 19 cm in circumference at the wrist end, and about 17 cm at the top end. However, the width (circumference) can easily be adapted to fit your hand size.
When knitting in stockinette stitch 12 sts equalled 5 cm in width and 16 rows equalled 5 cm in height.

In row 15 either place two markers (one at the beginning of the round - the other at the middle of the row (i.e. after 12 sts)) or use the magic loop technique and distribute the stitches evenly on the front and back needle (12 sts each).

Rounds 16 and 17: * kfb, k to last stitch of this needle (or last stitch before marker), kfb, repeat from *
Rounds 18 to 21: *kfb, kfb, k to last 2 sts of this needle (or last 2 sts before marker), kfb, kfb, repeat from *

After round 21 you should have a total of 64 sts on your needles - these stitches now form an oval shape. For the body part only one side of this oval will be used.

Body
Row 0 (RS): kfb, knit to last stitch on this needle (or last stitch before marker), kfb - do a provisional CO of 15 new stitches on a third needle - then continue knitting these new sts in row 0. If you want to customize your mitts to have a shorter or longer shaft, you can adjust them here by provisionally casting on more or less stitches - just make sure that the total number of stitches (half of the thumb stitches plus the provisional CO) is a multiple of 4 plus 3. E.g., half of the thumb stitches are 32. 32 + 15 (pCO) = 47 - and 47 = 11x4 + 3.

Put the rest of the stitches on scrap yarn or on a stitch holder

First some "neutral rows" to place the stacked stitches on the back of your hands. These neutral rows are basically all stockinette - except for some garter sts at the edges to prevent rolling at the sides.
Row 1 (WS): k5, p to last 5 sts, k5
Row 2 (RS): k all
Row 3 (WS): k5, p10, w+t
Row 4 (RS): k all
(Rows 3 and 4 are short rows added to make the wrist end of the mitts wider)
Repeat rows 1 and 2 twice more.

Now prepare for joining the sides together with a three-needle bind-off.

Put the stitches from your scrap yarn/stitch holder on your 2nd needle as well as the stitches of the provsional CO.

After you have picked up the stitches from the scrap yarn and your provisional CO, you'll notice two gaps around the thumb (one on top of the thumb, the other at the transition to the shaft. To avoid holes in the finished piece you'll have to pick up a stitch from these gaps and put them on the needle. To do this you need to transfer the stitches to a new needle - and when you reach the gap, pick up the the horizontal piece of yarn between the two stitches with your left needle, and twist it (as in a mk1-sts). Now you have one stitch more which will help to avoid a hole. Do the same for with the last stitches of that row.

Now hold both needles together and do a kitchener stitch (grafting). Weave in ends.

Differences for the 2nd Mitt

The second mitt must be knitted differently to mke it mirror inverted to the first. Here are the instructions for the 2nd mitt.

Knit the thumb part as for the 1st mitt.

Body
The basic difference is that for the neutral rows, WS and RS are switched, i.e. for mitt no. 1 your first comple body row is a WS row, while for the 2nd mitt, it's an RS row. This also means that the short rows (to widen the shaft) are knitted on the WS.

Row 0 (WS): do a provisional CO of 15 new stitches on a third needle and knit these stitches using your working yarn.

Continue knitting the same number of neutrals rows (including the same number of short rows) as for your first mitt.

Then move the thumb stitches from your scrap yarn to the 2nd needle as well as the stitches from the provisional CO (don't forget to pick up stitches around the thumb to avoid holes) and graft both sides together.